Man Utd 2-1 Marseille: two Hernandez tap-ins

March 15, 2011

The starting line-ups

Manchester United survived a late scare to book their place in the quarter-finals.

Sir Alex Ferguson made widespread changes from the weekend win over Arsenal. He played a 4-4-2 formation, Dimitar Berbatov was again left out, and Michael Carrick came into the midfield. John O’Shea got the nod over Rafael, but the Brazilian replaced him shortly before half time, due to injury.

Didier Deschamps pushed Gabriel Heinze into the centre of the defence, and played Taye Taiwo at left-back. Edouard Cisse and Charles Kabore were both omitted, with Benoit Cheyrou coming into the side. André-Pierre Gignac was upfront.

United went into the lead very early on – Wayne Rooney’s pass across goal found Javier Hernandez at the far post, instantly justifying Ferguson’s decision about his strikers.

Rooney left free

The goal came in the middle of an early spell of concerted United pressure, with Rooney the main reason why they started so strongly. Stephane Mbia was the man closest to Rooney, but seemed unsure of his responsibilities – was he meant to be goalside of Rooney and keeping a spare man at the back, or pushing forward and providing an extra man in midfield? Rooney was allowed to scamper between the lines, into space, and had time on the ball to pick passes. Mbia was also guilty of not tracking him for the goal.

Marseille were brave going forward. Neither United central midfielder looked to break forward, so both Cheyrou and Lucho Gonzalez were free to push on, and they combined well with the front three. It was notable how many men Marseille got into the penalty box when the ball was wide.

Marseille pressure

The away side had their chances, many of them coming because Wes Brown and Chris Smalling didn’t work well as a unit. Too many times they made the same movement towards the ball, on other occasions they didn’t clear quickly enough. Communication seemed to be a problem – simple long balls forward caused panic, and by the end of the first half Marseille had created far more chances than United – Gignac and Souleymane Diawara missed good opportunities.

Marseille’s wingers also looked threatening, especially Loic Remy down the right. Patrice Evra seemed concerned about Remy’s pace and stuck to him very tightly, getting drawn into unnecessary fouls too many times – he was lucky to escape without a card.

United good going forward

Still, United ocassionally looked wonderful when they had the ball. Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick played sensible balls out to the wide players, but the main quality came from the movement of the front two – Rooney dropped deep, whilst Hernandez moved out to wide positions before sprinting inside.

The one man who wasn’t particularly involved was Nani, who had rushed back to be fit for this game. The presence of the pacey Taiwo kept him quiet – Heinze would have been much more vulnerable to pace, so it was a good decision from Deschamps at left-back.

Second half

Wayne Rooney played deeper in the second half, forming a midfield five at times by dropping just ahead of Scholes and Carrick. This meant he was less of an obvious attacking threat, though he still sprayed some good passes out to the flanks.

The second half continued in broadly the same pattern as the first – Marseille had pressure, United looked nervous.

Changes

Deschamps brought on Mathieu Valbuena with a quarter of the game to go, but surprisingly removed Gignac, with Remy going upfront. This was a strange move – Gignac hadn’t had a particularly good game, but with United struggling in the air at the back, his physical presence was likely to be more of a threat than Remy’s pace (or, looking it another way, the threat of both would have been more of a threat than Remy’s pace alone). The resulting front four was packed with pace and movement, but with United defending increasingly deep, a more basic approach might have worked.

Marseille put plenty of crosses into the box - not all were successful, but United often didn't clear properly

United’s right-hand side changed in the second half. Antonio Valencia replaced Nani, and Fabio replaced Rafael because of injury. Giggs came across to that side to overload Marseille in the left-back position, and Hernandez converted Giggs’ low cross for the second.

Jordan Ayew came on for Mbia as Deschamps went for the win late on, in a ramshackle 4-2-4 system. All four attacking players wanted to come inside, though, which was strange as Marseille had looked at their most threatening when they’d put crosses into the box. Valbuena caused problems with his delivery from corners and forced Brown to put into his own net, but United held out.

Conclusion

Neither side overwhelmingly won the the tactical battle here. United won the game but Marseille probably created more goalscoring opportunities, and had long spells where they put United under considerable pressure. They lacked composure and ruthlessness in the final third – a little more of that, and they may have caused a shock.

United generally played well when Rooney got on the ball. His movement early on constantly threatened to unlock Marseille. Ferguson would probably have thrown on an additional central midfielder or defender late on to help United protect the lead, but the double injury problem at right-back limited the changes he could make, which caused a nervous final few minutes.

37 Responses to “ Man Utd 2-1 Marseille: two Hernandez tap-ins ”

Still don’t like Carrick in a central midfield duo, works much better with Fletcher in there too. With Scholes and Giggs in the team it just feels very dangerous not having an energetic players in there – Fletcher and Anderson are injured, so I guess this wasn’t an option tonight. Do you think going 4-4-2 was a bit risky? I would’ve been tempted to play Rooney wide or much deeper to help out in midfield. Had this game been played 10 times how many would United have won, do you reckon?

RMJ on March 15, 2011 at 10:43 pm

the thing is Carrick offers more tactical and defensive discipline than Fletcher and Anderson…quiet a few times we saw Carrick doing a full sprint to cover for either Scholes or the defenders, this is a problem when none of our midfielders definitely have pace to keep up

David on March 15, 2011 at 10:40 pm

I’m surprised you didn’t mention how poorly Diawara played. He was slightly at fault for the first goal, for not stepping up to play Hernandez offside. But he was 100% at fault for the second goal – he lazily played Valencia onside, and then failed to track Hernandez behind him. He made a number of other mistakes but his teammates bailed him out.

I am guessing the reason Gignac was subbed out is because he recently had a groin injury, and this was only his 2nd start since he returned. He used a lot of energy today, chasing lost causes and challenging for 50-50 aerial duels, so you can understand he might not last the full 90 minutes.

Truthandinsight on March 15, 2011 at 10:42 pm

I thought Rooney played very well tonight. Maybe he should play a more attacking-midfield type role from now on, instead as an up-top striker…..what do people think?

Roberticus on March 15, 2011 at 10:54 pm

Well tonight he seemed, at times, to be playing as a genuine trequartista/enganche (or whatever you want to call it) as opposed to a second-striker who drops off and makes wide runs.
Certainly later in his career he might prosper playing permanently here.

ksk on March 15, 2011 at 11:57 pm

yes his role definitely seemed to be different compared to previous matches. Here he was switching play, roaming across the pitch and collecting balls he was great to watch in this role and he can be pushed wide or play as a striker alone. Nice to have this flexibility

Hans Jørgen Ulsund on March 16, 2011 at 5:54 pm

I do not remember how Sholes used to play in his early days, but can there be a possibility that Rooney will eventually end up like him playing as a regista?

Roberticus on March 16, 2011 at 6:53 pm

Possibly, once he enters physical decline – though Scholes arguably had the vision and intelligence to play the Pirlo role even when he was in his prime.

Thought exactly the same thing – he has so much to his game. His vision on the pass to set Giggs free for the first goal was top drawer. Think he also pulls defenders with him as well allowing more space for Berba and Hernandez. Felt so strongly that it is actually his best position when my mate went on about him being in a slump that I wrote a blog on it: http://insideoutwinger.com/becoming-world-class-aint-easy

Gallarno on March 15, 2011 at 10:55 pm

I think it was a poor game, it didn’t have the technical quality and the frantic rhythm of Bayern-Inter. Neither side should be particularly satisfied with his game, and finally it seems Manchester won just because they had the best offensive players.

@ ZonalMarking : in my opinion, Deschamps removed Gignac to put Rémy upfront, because the former is still not 100% confident and is still having frequent frustrating games; whereas Rémy is basically a striker which is getting better and better these recent times, for instance he headbutted a beautiful goal last week at Rennes. However, I agree with you to say that two strikers upfront would have been more of a aerial threat.

RAHUL on March 16, 2011 at 8:05 am

do you really know football . i was reading the commentary on the soccernet website and they were scrambling to keep with the pace of the game when i was looking at the commentary at one minute utd were having a corner at the very second minute marseille were having the corner and you still say the pace was drab . i was looking at the bayern – inter game and it was boring to be honest these continental teams make silly mistakes and i am bore of them .

Gallarno on March 16, 2011 at 11:40 pm

How can you say that Bayern – Inter was boring ?
There were a lot of clear chances, a quick tempo and, as I said, a great general technical quality, especially in the first half. It’s been quite a long time since I hadn’t seen such a good game, whereas I watch the best games of the best 5 leagues every week.
On the opposite, I still think Manchester – Marseille was much more quiet, no matter was Soccernet said. Marseille only really tried to rush to get another goal in the final 10 minutes, but it was too late.

I also love the “I am bored of continental teams” part of the commentary. You know, if you think that your english teams play a better football, you don’t have to absolutely watch the Champions League and comment it.

Jeremy on March 15, 2011 at 11:12 pm

As others have hinted at, I really thought United played more of 4-2-3-1 throughout much of the game. As you said above, carrick and scholes rarely got forward to support the attack but instead sat deep and hit balls to Nani, Rooney, and Giggs. It wasn’t uncommon to see both fullbacks ahead of the central midfielders simultaneously when united were on the attack and Rooney constantly found himself level with the 2 central midfielders hitting long balls to the three ahead of him. Part of what created so much space for Rooney was the movement and positioning of Hernandez. He worked the entire front line, as you stated, and was constantly a threat to Diawara and Heinze who can never match him for pace.

Hopefully Fergie will continue to use Rooney in this deep role when he would have instead chosen three central midfielders in the past. In Chicharito, United have a player that flourishes against a high back line and in Berbatov they have a player that can play the killer ball if their opponents choose to sit deep which suits Rooney who can either play deeper with Hernandez in or Higher with Berbatov.

DARREN WILSON on March 16, 2011 at 12:32 am

Hernandez’s abilities across the front line is a welocme boost for Utd, they do not posess another attacker who does it as well and it seems that Berbatov may be a abench player now for the rest of the season. Rooney and Hernadez for me as the preferred line up offensively for the run in..

Another thing was the return of Valencia; only his second time on the pitch since his injury yet involved in setting up the second goal. His return is timely because we know the type of partnership he had with Rooney last year, and it will be interesting to see if Hernandez remains leading the line what sort of service he will get with valencia and Nani out wide..???

DOF on March 20, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Yep, the heat maps show a 4-2-3-1 with being part of the 3 rather the the 1.

It was basically and asymmetric 4-2-3-1/ 4-2-2-2 formation with Rooney being a trequartista and Scholes the regista in the Pirlo mould.

Big Baller on March 16, 2011 at 1:36 am

Chicharito is a special player and his pace is electrifying. I study the game quite a bit and I am sorry but I don’t see many players with his pace, expert runs, and more importantly the chemistry he provides his team. Guys just love playing with him.

Javier Aguirre should never return to Mexico. He completely botched the World Cup for Mexico!!! How this kid didn’t play every minute of the past WC is beyond me. I mean they did have intra-squad scrimmages didn’t they?

Tactically speaking with Rooney, Berbatov, Valencia, Nani, Giggs, and Chicharito–they can basically play any formation Sir Alex could ever dream of. Must be nice.

yes, he may well rival Van Nistelrooys record of goals scored per game and he cost almost 3 times less in terms of transfer fees….a real bargin alright considering 19 million was considered a bargin when Van Nistelrooy played..!!!

Home from Cubs tonight. Figured it out. Will have given over 200 hours to the program between March 1 and April 15. I wonder why I’m tired?

dev on March 16, 2011 at 4:27 am

This United team wont go past quarterfinal whoever they draw with (except Spurs maybe) and thats for sure. Most awful team to watch this year in the CL. How they are still leading the premiership is beyond me.

Big Baller on March 16, 2011 at 5:39 am

Lol. I thought this was a blog about tactics.

I think MUTD’s tactics are very sound and obviously flexible considering the formation they just played with in the FA Cup, compared to this CL return leg.

Sir Alex has been putting on a clinic when it comes to tactics this week.

Sean on March 16, 2011 at 4:37 am

This United team is so poor. Any team they play in the next round, apart from Tottenham and Schalke will beat them.

Sir Bow on March 16, 2011 at 5:09 am

Thank you very much Zonal Marking for your analysis.
Please Can you Analyze the match between Bayern and Inter, It’s really surprise me when inter beat bayern at second half.
Thank you very much

Boba on March 16, 2011 at 7:01 am

In my humble openion, United should remove Berba and get Chicharito in the first 11. Berba gives lazy passes, and in many games turns out doing nothing but standing around…Chicharito is a beast!!! Brilliant movement and pace, and already proving to the world that he is a top class finisher…Some might say Chicharito has luck on his side that he scores soo many tap inns, but i say its his movement and hardwork…

Elis on March 16, 2011 at 2:33 pm

But Hernandez is now playing in the first elleven! If there even is such a thing at such a big club because of rotation.

If Marseille had a better striker than Gignac, who was very poor, or even Reimy there instead of Gignac, story would have been different. I felt sorry for OM yday.

James Jameson on March 16, 2011 at 9:51 am

ZM – Do you think it’s possible, we might see Rooney drop deeper and become the new Scholes of this United side? The Paul Scholes of 3/4 seasons ago I mean… Playing from midfield, pulling the strings and getting in on the end of moves?

I don’t think the role he played last season was natural for him, as the main CF, although he did really well there. He seemed to enjoy his role last night as the TQ/AMF.

Scholes started his United career as a CF.

dearieme on March 16, 2011 at 11:24 am

Well, will he be dirty enough to be the new Scholes? The signs are promising.

James Jameson on March 16, 2011 at 1:03 pm

No question, he has all the attributes!!

David on March 16, 2011 at 12:20 pm

Yeah, the role wasn’t natural for him, but last year he was the only striker who consistently scored goals and actually worked hard for the team. This year you discovered Hernandez, so now Rooney can play in a more creative role. And I think that’s where he belongs, especially with Fletcher and Anderson currently injured. Those two have good pace and work rate in midfield. For all of Scholes and Carrick’s strengths, they aren’t fast (any more) and they don’t have a great work rate (any more). For instance, Carrick was directly responsible for 1 or 2 of Liverpool’s goals because he just stood there and didn’t track the runner from midfield. He’s similar to Denilson in that sense – he is capable of covering lots of ground and is a smart defender, but sometimes he just switches off and lets his man get by him, or commits to a tackle he has no chance of winning, etc.

I know Rooney would probably play in an advanced midfield role, but he does an amazing amount of tracking back, and often you find him defending in the fullback or defensive midfield position. And Man Utd could use that right now I think.

While United lack the creativity due to poor form of pretty much all of the midfielders, and that form is responsible for United’s poor defensive record this season, its not due to lack of hard work or lack of pace.
Scholes is a very hardworking player, as is Carrick. They have been poor yes, but lets not confuse issues. Scholes always makes himself available for a pass and works hard defensively. Something at which he is quite good, poor tackling aside. Carrick too has the positioning sense to not have to run 30 yards to make a desperate tackle, and he is a very smart tackler. They use their brains when their legs no longer can do the job. Again, Carrick has been shocking most of the season, and Scholes has been pretty tame, but its not due to lack of work.

Rooney is quite poor while defending, I know that fans love players who run around all over the pitch getting stuck in, but most of the time its due to poor positioning and mistakes. Also, while Rooney has recently created many chances they were either on a counter, or in the final third of the pitch. He hardly creates anything from a proper central midfield position. Does not have the vision nor the ability that Scholes does (on a good day). Frankly I don’t see Rooney being able to dictate the game and protect the back four. Rooney has his attributes and is a great player when on form, but a central midfielder he is not. Certainly not as a part of a two man midfield. He can pull it off when in front of two defensive minded players who can give him the ball at the halfway line and further up, but not like Scholes does and Carrick can.

RMJ on March 18, 2011 at 1:37 pm

I would disagree with the lack of pace issue, it might not be a problem in Europe but it most definitely is in the EPL. At the start of the season Fletcher and Scholes started a lot of the games and so did Evans, Fletcher while is a very hardworking player has poor tactical awareness and hence leaving scholsey exposed, this left both Evans who is the more inexperienced too overexposed and thus in the long run damaging his confidence. The latest example for this would be the liverpool game.
As for rooney he is striker and not a defender, how many strikers of his calibre do you think drop abck to defend as often or as well as he does?

DOF on March 20, 2011 at 12:47 pm

There are such things as defensive forwards (in the total football school).

Eto’o under Mourinho was a top example of a striker becoming a defensive winger who would swap with Maicon and become a fullback basically.

Another fantastic brace from Hernandez, creating space to fire home both times after good build up.

Valencia again made an impact as a sub and is very direct. When he and Nani get time together on the pitch, it will make United a counter attacking threat once again. Very important with Arsenal game coming up in May as it has helped United to victory before.

Rooney certainty looked like trequartista, spraying a variety of impressive passes and roamed brilliantly. Not criticizing him, but he also looked too much of a creator when he was sometimes in front of goal and you would generally see him shoot instead of that final pass. I think this role really suits him in a Champions League night & also away matches with Hernandez as a goal-poacher.

But I haven’t consistently watched Man.Utd this season. Did Rooney play this role with England too?